An attempt is made to share the truth regarding issues concerning Israel and her right to exist as a Jewish nation. This blog has expanded to present information about radical Islam and its potential impact upon Israel and the West. Yes, I do mix in a bit of opinion from time to time.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

How Islamism Tainted France's Presidential Election

Nidra PollerMiddle East QuarterlyWinter 2013 (view PDF)What is Europe going to do about Islam? Submit?
Resist? Or just wait it out, dimwittedly? The recent French presidential
election offers insight into the way Islam, or more exactly the
Islamist factor, may eventually play out in European politics.Despite attempts by the Left to focus the debate on the economic crisis, Islam played a decisive role in the contest. The
Socialist candidate, whose platform was tilted to favor the party's
Muslim clientele, could not have won without total support in the second
round of voting from far Left parties marked by zealous anti-Zionism
and a full range of anti-Western ideologies. The
question of Islam-in-France was raised with unprecedented candor by
incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy of the Movement for a Popular Majority (UMP).
For the first time in France, a major party clearly advocated a push
back against Islam (qualified of course with the adjective "radical").
This strategy fired up the enthusiasm of the base, mobilized voters,
brought tens of thousands to party rallies, and led to a daily increase
in Sarkozy's polling figures. It would be fair to estimate that if he
had had one more week to campaign he might have defeated Hollande during
the second-round vote on May 6, 2012.But his momentum had already been slowed by Marine Le
Pen, candidate of a refurbished Front National. During the first-round
campaign of April 9-22, the media kept its spotlight on her in a replay
of the strategy used by the last Socialist president, François
Mitterrand, who deployed them to exaggerate her father Jean-Marie Le
Pen's importance and weaken the conservative opposition. While accusing
the Right of dallying with the Front National "fascists," Mitterrand had
unashamedly governed with a coalition of communists and the far Left
without which the Socialists could never have won. A variation on this
strategy was used in 2012: Anyone who dared question the virtues of
"immigration" (code word for Islam) or defend national identity (code
word for Islamexasperation) was smeared with pejoratives, all related to
Nazism and the Holocaust.

French exasperation with Islam is prompted by situations such as this
where Muslims illegally take over streets in Paris in order to pray.
Authorities look the other way while the French are left wondering what
has happened to their country.

In fact, this worked to the
advantage of Le Pen, who came in third with 17.9 percent of the vote in
the first round. What explains her pulling power? Did millions of French
voters, disappointed with Sarkozy's failure to release the pent up
energies of the French economy, go for the Front National's unrealistic
economic program? Or did they, like the more vocal counter-jihad
activists who rushed into her arms, simply ignore it and focus strictly
on her championing of Islamexasperation? The activists, blaming Sarkozy
for being big on rhetoric but soft on Islam, placed their faith in Le
Pen, who came out beating the drum against Muslim street prayers ("an
invasion without tanks") and marched forward, stressing all the issues
about which they themselves were blogging. They believed she would put
an end to shameful compromises by the Right and the Left, which they
designated by the composite "UMPS" (UMP + PS [Parti socialiste]).Enchanted by her tough-on-Islam rhetoric, the new
enthusiasts ignored the core of small-minded, retrograde
anticapitalist—and often anti-Semitic—Front National stalwarts. Members
of the "Jews-for-Marine" faction gave credibility to her clumsy visits
to the United States and Israel. Her secularist Jewish supporters hardly
noticed the way she lumped Judaism together with Islam, willing to
sacrifice kosher slaughter if Islamic halal could be abolished along
with it.[1] They did not even hear her declare that the U.N. Security Council should recognize Palestine.[2]Heady with power after her good first round showing,
Le Pen orchestrated the defeat of Sarkozy by convincing half of her
supporters to cast a blank ballot in the second round of voting.
Bloggers and activists associated with the counter-jihad site, Riposte Laïque,[3]
believed that the UMP, condemned for its failure to stop the Islamic
onslaught, would fall apart, and Le Pen would pick up the pieces.
Confident that a slew of deputies would be elected in a Front National
wave, they said she would be the leader of a new conservative party and,
in 2017, why not Présidente de la République?

The True Victims

There is one category of the indigenous European population that is clearly persecuted by Muslim immigration: the Jews.Not
all Muslims attack Jews but virtually all anti-Jewish violence in
France is committed by Muslims. And it is so widespread, so merciless,
so stubbornly resistant that thousands of Jews have chosen to emigrate.[4]
Of those who remain, many valiantly devote their energies to denouncing
the violence and trying to defend Jews against it. But no less shocking
than the flight or fight choice imposed on Jews is the general
indifference to their dilemma.The expulsion of a few illegal immigrants can
monopolize prime time news for days while most attacks against Jews are
ignored by the national media. Those that are reported are twisted out
of shape by fabricated ambiguity. The victim says he was beaten/knocked
down/kicked/slashed/bombarded with anti-Semitic insults. The perpetrator
denies the insults. The journalist gives equal credibility to the
Jew-basher and the bashed Jew, and the story quickly drops out of sight.[5]On the rare occasion when an anti-Semitic crime is too
big to ignore, it is drowned in a flood of emotion: Solemn public
figures in skull caps attend synagogue ceremonies, Jewish community
leaders and intellectuals publicly agonize in the media, and minutes of
silence and solemn marches are organized. But the connection between
Islam, Jew hatred, the specific killer, and the criminal act is severed.
This was the case with the murder of Sébastien Selam by a Muslim
neighbor in 2003 and the kidnap-torture murder of Ilan Halimi by an
Islamist gang in 2006.[6]Islamism's brutal face showed up once again on the eve
of the official presidential campaign in the form of Muhammad Merah,
who assassinated three paratroopers of fellow North African origin—Abel
Chennouf, Imad Iban Ziaten, and Muhammad Legouade—and then on March 19,
executed Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, his sons Aryeh and Gavriel, and
7-year-old Miriam Monsonego at the Ozar Hatorah school in Toulouse. A
surviving soldier, Loic Liber, is a tetraplegic while student Bryan
Aaron Bajoui is recuperating from critical chest wounds and the shock of
witnessing the murders.Because Merah killed both Jews and apparent Muslims
(in fact one of his Maghrebi victims was Christian), the crime could not
be termed as purely anti-Semitic. The fact that he was a
run-of-the-mill punk rather than a wildly deranged one-of-a-kind killer
raised no alarms in the public mind: Ominously, a striking increase in
attacks against Jews following Merah's jihadist operation showed that a
very broad swath of the French Muslim population is both radicalized and
activated.[7]This does not mean that French society was not shaken by the Merah massacre. The weekly Nouvel Observateur
featured a cover story on anti-Semitism in July. Yet, the lead article
by Isabelle Monnin, "Journey to the Depths of Anti-Semitism," meanders
with half-closed eyes down the path of the new anti-Semitism. Merah is
identified as a jihadist admired by a "small minority." Several attacks
against Jews are described. (Attacked by whom?) Jews who wear skull caps
are afraid to go into certain neighborhoods. (What kind of
neighborhoods?) Most incidents, it seems, are not violent enough to be
worth reporting. Others—in Villurbane, a North African bashed a young
Jew's head with a hammer—are admittedly serious but, writes Monnin, they
are whipped up by bloggers, leading to a "paranoid trend that makes
every attack on a Jew the absolute proof of rampant anti-Semitism."
Finally, Monnin identifies the Jew-bashers when she states that "today's
anti-Semitism is often [sic] committed by youths of Maghrebi
origin or sub-Saharan Africa calling themselves Muslims." Are they not
really Muslims? Or does the author think they do not represent true
Islam? She attributes this anti-Semitism to a "political-religious
molasses transposed from the Israel-Palestine conflict and
anti-Americanism." But, she alerts her readers to watch out for "a
certain number of Jews whose racism and Islamophobia is reinforced by
the increase in anti-Semitism."This blaming of the victim is repeated in other
articles of the special issue, which accuse Jews of exaggerating the
situation while exonerating Islam of anti-Jewish animosity. Journalist
Marie Lemonnier begins her piece with a statement by the prominent
Muslim Brotherhood cleric, Yusuf Qaradawi, hoping the Muslims will
follow in Hitler's footsteps and perfect the next holocaust. Yet after
admitting that "extremists" like Qaradawi draw their legitimacy from
Muslim tradition, she goes on to deny the evidence: The anti-Judaism of
Islam's beginnings is just the "traditional" way that religions
differentiate themselves. She cites specialists who tell us that Jews
and Muslims lived harmoniously together for fourteen centuries, ignoring
massive documentary evidence to the contrary.[8]
Forced conversions during the Almohad period, she says, were an
exception to the "imperishable" Qur'anic verse: "Let there be no
compulsion in religion [Surat al-Baqara, 256]." Anti-Semitism in
Muslim lands was tragically imported from Christian Europe. And, she
concludes, "in the wake of decolonization and Israeli-Arab wars, Jewish
presence in Islamic lands became rare."[9] If by chance Jewish presence in France were to become rare, would it be equally passive?

The Campaign Must Go On

While
Le Pen immediately cited Merah's crime as proof of the connection
between immigration, Islam, and violence, the media narrative was framed
to disconnect Islam from this murderous hatred though the terms "jihad"
and "jihadist" were widely employed, and the media did include
information about Merah's radicalization. In the ensuing election
campaign, the Socialists opted for the deprivation/marginalization
explanation while Sarkozy proposed legislation that would criminalize
radicalization—for example, training in Pakistani jihad camps—making it
possible to arrest men like Merah before they go into action.But the issue of Islam's coexistence with Western
society and its values was allocated to the Front National. Every time
the UMP raised the question, it was accused by the Socialists, the
media, and some of its own members of appealing to the public's worst
instincts, sucking up to Le Pen's supporters, and stoking irrational
fears, xenophobia, and "Islamophobia." At the opposite end of the
spectrum, counter-jihad militants dismissed Sarkozy's "empty rhetoric"
and tallied up his sins of past concessions to Islam.In fact, Le Pen had neither the political savvy nor
the party machine to capitalize on her first-round success. In ensuing
legislative elections, she was defeated in her bid for reelection as
deputy of the town of Hénin-Beaumont by her arch rival, the leftist
Front de Gauche presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon. The Front
National ended up with a grand total of two deputies in parliament:
Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, Marine's 20-year-old niece, and lawyer Gilbert
Collard (who is not even a card-carrying party member). No longer useful
for the Left's divide and conquer strategy, Marine Le Pen and her
meager band of supporters disappeared from the media.Faced with a choice between a muted appeal to the
Center and a resolute attempt to consolidate his right-wing base and win
back Front National voters, Sarkozy chose the latter line of attack.
Accused by Left and Center of selling his soul to the Front National
devil, the battling incumbent rose to the height of his political skills
and attracted an increasingly enthusiastic following. His defense of
family values, the work ethic, and patriotism were equated by his
detractors with the infamous "travail, famille, patrie" of Maréchal Petain.[10]
His concern for decent people in poor neighborhoods victimized by thugs
was met with contempt and cries of "populism." They called him a
xenophobe for linking immigration with criminality, abuse of social
services, and a damaged school system. His warnings against the dangers
of Islamic radicalization earned him the "Islamophobe" label. In the
counter-jihad camp, voters closed their ears to his siren's song. He did
not deliver when he was Interior minister; he did nothing when he was
president; we don't want to hear it!In the course of a three-hour presidential debate on
May 2, 2011, the candidates had a fiery exchange on the subject of the
Socialist candidate's promise to grant voting rights to foreigners in
municipal elections.[11] With the brutal Ozar Hatorah murders still alive in the collective mind, Sarkozy said this would encourage communautarisme
(clannishness, tribalism, identity politics) at a time of extreme
tension "between communities" and intense pressure for radicalization. A
righteously indignant Hollande snapped back: What gives you the right
to say that non-European immigrants are Muslim? Sarkozy responded at
length and in detail, challenging his opponent to face the reality that
immigration is essentially from Muslim countries of the Maghreb and
sub-Saharan Africa. These immigrants, he said, were the source of
conflict. If they voted in municipal elections they would make demands
based on Islamic practices. Reiterating his hallmark call for an "Islam
of France" not an "Islam in France"[12]
and citing his own record of defending the religious freedom of
Muslims, Sarkozy noted that Muslims were treated better in France than
Christians in the Muslim world. Hollande, rebuffing the slightest
insinuation that Muslim voters would exert communitarian pressure,
promised there would be no breach of the principle of laïcité (the relegation of religion to the private sphere) under his presidency.When it came time for the second round of voting,
Mélenchon's Front de Gauche supporters along with the Green Party and a
smattering of anti-capitalist formations, high on ferocious
Palestinianism, cast their votes for Hollande, making no secret of their
utter disagreement with his platform. Hollande's campaign manager,
Pierre Moscovici, assured his fellow Jews that Hollande would indeed
cultivate the votes of these somewhat unsavory parties, but they would
have no influence whatsoever on his policies as president.[13]The proliferation of flags from Muslim-majority
countries at Hollande's victory celebration was graphic evidence of this
support. Apologists explained away the foreign flag waving as the
normally variegated enthusiasm of diversity. But a television team
interviewed some Palestinian-flag wavers who repeated new variants on
old canards (e.g., Israeli soldiers mow down Palestinian children on
their way to the mosque), promising to head over there and kill all the
Israelis.[14]What transformed the predicted landslide defeat of Nicolas Sarkozy[15]
into a narrow victory for François Hollande (51.67 vs. 48.3 percent)?
Though the totality of the far Left vote, including an estimated 93
percent of the Muslim vote, went to François Hollande,[16] this alone would not have ensured his victory.It seems clear that Sarkozy limited Hollande's numbers
by addressing the Islamexasperation of his party's base. The loss of a
significant portion of this "counter-jihad" vote, diverted in the
beginning to the Front National, blocked Sarkozy's momentum in the first
round and deprived him of decisive votes in the second. This was
compounded by the desertion of morally indignant centrists who accused
the president of leading his party into the disgraceful clutches of the
far Right.

Conclusion

The elections
are over, but the debate continues, not only within the UMP, as it
determines its policy of reconquest, but also within the Socialist
government, confronted with a problem that will not go away. For Jews in
France, the issue is stated with terrible acuity: The future of their
community in the country—as in the rest of Europe—depends on the
government's capacity to identify and deal with this problem.The Islamic factor will not go away. This summer, punk
jihadists on the warpath caused a million Euros of damage in the
housing projects of Amiens; thugs fired at police in Grigny; drug
dealers are mowing each other down in the streets of Marseille; teachers
are getting insurance coverage for injuries inflicted by students or
their parents after a teacher in Bordeaux was beaten by a student
offended by a history of religion lesson on Islam.[17]Jean François Copé is competing with former prime
minister François Fillon for the presidency of the UMP on a platform
that carries over Sarkozy's campaign themes. He has vowed to defend a
party that will confront the issues without political correctness,
defend law-abiding citizens against criminals, and promote enterprise,
innovation, and self-reliance. But neither he nor any of the other
candidates, parties, or elected officials are up for an unambiguous
confrontation with Islam. When Jamel Ghabi, a French elected official
was nearly killed by a group of Salafis in Bizerte, his Tunisian
birthplace, because of the "immodest" dress of his wife and 12-year-old
daughter,[18] Copé decried the attack by "extremists" who have nothing to do with a religion and a society moving toward democracy.[19]
Interior Minister Manuel Vals vowed to bring law and order to Marseille
without stigmatizing the population while Minister of Foreign Affairs
Laurent Fabius balanced out strong words against Iran's president
Ahmadinejad with a reminder that the Israelis should give the
Palestinians a state.[20]The economic crises of modern days may come and go,
but the survival of civilization depends on intelligent decisions by
informed citizens and courageous statesmen. The 9/11 anniversary murder
of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and his colleagues by Libyan
jihadists, along with attacks on Western embassies and institutions
throughout Muslim-majority countries are alarm bells for those who are
willing to listen. The Israeli ambassador to Egypt has been working in
temporary quarters since the embassy was torched last year. All other
issues pale beside the existential triangle: Islam, Israel, and Iran.
Will Israel, the only Western nation in which the governing party is
resolutely counter-jihad, lead the free world into a new strategy of
resolute self-defense and preemptive operations? Which side of the
chessboard will the newly-elected U.S. administration choose? And
finally: Whither France?

Nidra Poller is an American novelist and journalist living in Paris since 1972. The English version of her collection of short stories, Karimi Hotel and Other African Equations, will be published by Authorship Intl in 2013.

We are hypocrites and cowards - we take freedom for granted as it is eroding underneath our feet‏

Message to offended Muslims

A GOOD, TRUE STORY NOT KNOWN BY MANY.....Air Force.

The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

What happened?

Mark Hasten Tribute Video Touro College

Housing Quiz

The Record-so far...!

CBS special on Bengazi

Report: 83 percent of doctors have considered quitting over Obamacare

Sally Nelson

Eighty-three percent of American physicians have considered leaving their practices over President Barack Obama’s health care reform law, according to a survey released by the Doctor Patient Medical Association.

Islamization on the move

"What we are dealing with is Islamization. Islamization is the imposition of ideological norms in increasing severity. Like Nazification, it transforms a society by remaking it in its own image from the largest to the smallest of details."Daniel Greenfield

Toronto rejects Anti-Israel Ads...

Shrinking Lands

Why Israel opposes international forces in the jordan valley/

/why-israel-opposes-international-forces-in-the-jordan-valley/

Islam is Islam, And That’s It

Back in 2007, when confronted with the phrase “moderate Islam”, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan famously responded: “These descriptions are very ugly, it is offensive and an insult to our religion. There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that’s it.”

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading and annotating this video: View video at http://gatesofvienna.net/

There's no racist like a liberal racist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vz4PjxSmtoI

Ex-Navy SEAL Drops Bombshell On FOX: Says Government is Creating Conditions to Impose Martial Law R

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDuds14OBiE#t=156

American surprise

The Nairobi Mall Massacre

Ninh Chu Ninh Chu

Islam Untied

Platitudes about Islam being a faith of peace are not credible anymore. Islam is only as good as the way its followers practice it; and if they have created killing fields in the name of Islam, then Islam will be recognized by the silence of those who did not speak out when their faith was being massacred to massacre humanity.

AFTERBURNER w/ BILL WHITTLE: The Lynching

What-are you against peace?

Sydney Wake Up The Horrific Muslim Infiltration Of Britain - Luton

Kerry: 'Core Issue of Instability ... Is the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict'‏

Kerry is no friend. By endorsing the "Arab peace initiative" he shows his true intentions and beliefs . And by endorsing linkage he shows that he is either a liar or a fool.Syria is on fire, Egypt is at best incredibly unstable and this is due to Israel? It is out in the open!

A word to left-wing students

In their own words-ru listening?

"The lesson these Islamist groups appear to be drawing from events in Egypt is that democratic engagement with opponents is pointless. And that doesn't bode well for countries with strong Islamist movements..."

Flashback: Obama Admits He Cut Medicare

Another Democratic slogan blown to h....

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

When nations and cultures ignore the early warning signs of the infiltration of radical Islam

The UK has 85 sharia courts. France has over 750 “no go zones,” Muslim enclaves where even French police don’t enter.

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDKk15KcqNk&feature=email

No such thing as "Islamophobia"

However, if you do not want your positions challenged or criticized or even researched, make up a new "phobia"-shout it long enough and some "people", agenda driven, will use it. Ay, yes, the false term does keep many, many financially rewarded-follow the money.gs don morris, Ph.D.

Khader Adnan: Leader of Islamic jihad or innocent baker?

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.More...

Omar Barghouti's Propaganda at USC on January 12, 2012

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’ -- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.Clare M. Lopez

Americans are opening their eyes

Advertisers fleeing All-American Muslim 'propaganda'The American people are seeing through the propaganda piece that is TLC's All-American Muslim reality/dawah show, and responsible advertisers are fleeing in droves. The show aims to combat a trumped-up problem, "Islamophobia," by presenting Muslims who are just ordinary folk, and

Why Islam is Incompatible with Western Law

Col. Allen West answers a question on muslim terror

Challah's Gaza Rocket Counter

This Month:4Last Month:191

This Year: 562

Total since 2002: 12055

Cease fire Hamas style!!

Thanks http://challahhuakbar.blogspot.com/

"Islamophobia"

"Islamophobia" was a politically manipulative coinage designed to silence critics of Islamic supremacism.It was invented, deliberately, by a Muslim Brotherhood front organization, the International Institute for Islamic Thought, which is based in Northern Virginia.

10 Unknown West Bank Facts

Liberals Redefine "Extremism" and the "Political Center"

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist.The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

Don’t ever call it ‘West Bank’ again

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

Who do the territories belong to?

The legal borders of Israel under international law

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror YeminiIn 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state. Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

How Liberals Argue

Hebrew Univ-you rock!!

Judea and Samaria are not "occupied" lands-why?

Judea-Samaria were not only parts of the ancient Jewish homeland but were recognized as part of the Jewish National Home recognized by San Remo and the League of Nations [1920, 1922] and by the UN charter [article 80; 1945].

"Political Correctness."

"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rapidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."Texas A&M

Christopher Monckton Speaking in St. Paul on the climate issues

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

WHAT Golda Meir actually said...

"When was there an independent Palestinian people with a Palestinian state? It was either southern Syria before the First World War, and then it was a Palestine including Jordan. It was not as though there was a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as a Palestinian people and we came and threw them out and took their country away from them. They did not exist." Golda Meir June 15, 1969: Interview in the UK Sunday Times

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

About Me

Semi-retired Professor, now also permanent resident of Israel;divides time between both countries-serves on several Boards of Directors for Israel advocacy groups;Chana, resident of Jerusalem, JCPA member